Most of my co-workers love to talk about buying new or very fancy cars. Have had many poke fun at me as the poorest guy they know. As moustachians I thought we could maybe use this thread to brag on our high-mileage cars (since no one else will ever envy them!).

Me:I have a 2000 Toyota Sienna with 215k miles as our family car. Still running strong and we did a cross-country trip 2 years ago from coast to coast and back (my job paid for the trip which was a vacation for my family!!). Only major repair has been the AC compressor.

For my farm truck (and what I use to haul building materials when building my house) I have a 2001 Ford F-350 with 260k miles. Bought used in 2008 for $7k and kbb is more than that even now... Bad mpg but I only use it for hauling and towing (very good money-maker). Wouldn't recommend it from a MMM perspective due to somewhat poor reliability but a steady diet of parts keeps it running!

Mine's not that great but last summer I sold my '03 Taurus with 200k miles. It was still driving strong but was getting to the point where things were wearing out from age (last fix was radiator hoses that deteriorated). I got a lot of surprised looks from people about how many miles that car had since Taurus's have a bad reputation. Right before we sold it my husbands coworker drove it and said he's never driven a car with that many miles that drove so smoothly. DH's car is at about 130k miles and runs like the day we drove it home

My parents had a '94 Escort that they sold with ~260k miles. I think the engine was still pretty solid but the tranny was going

We've got an old diesel suburban thats done 475000 miles and still rumbling along. We dont do any big miles on it, just as a beast of burden, but its great and you get great respect on the road.... no-one pulls out in front of you!

I never seem to be able to get that many miles from a car, just because I don't drive enough.. I sold my 90 Maxima when it was about 18 years old, it only had 150,000. I drive an 03 Golf we've had since it was new. It only has 97,000. My mom and I split a 2000 Sienna that I bought this year with 140,000.

Otherwise, great job. It's crazy that people constantly buy new cars. I understand why you needed a new car every 6 years in the 70s and 80s when cars hardly ever hit 100,000. But even the lowest GM offering should be able to give you 200,000 these days.

327,000 miles on my 1992 Honda Civic. Still gets ~ 40mpg. Manual transmission, manual windows, manual locks. 4 doors, spacious trunk. Trailer hitch on the back. I hear all the time, "you need a new car." Once I point out the fact that my car is paid for, gets 40mpg, and my insurance is $38 a month, the tone of the conversation changes and they get it. My fiance is driving a 2006 Focus with 194,000 miles on it. Same deal, everything is manual. She gets 35mpg in hers. We both plan to drive our vehicles until it doesn't make any sense to repair them anymore. They're the only cars we own, and they're driven daily.

Last year a boutgh a "New" Neon for $350 with fanctastic bodywork and a cosmetic dent in the front.. Repainted the front half of the car and rebuilt the engine and put new synchro cones in the manual transmission.

The engine had 130k miles... When I stripped it down everything was still in standard spec.. still had the original honing marks in the bores! These new blocks simply don't wear like they used to. I put new pistons, bearings and rings in it and put it back together with a rebuilt cylinder head.

I have a low mileage brag. Bought a car over 10 years ago while in high school, and I only hit 100K miles last year. Helped that I walked to college for 4 years. I hope to be driving it for another 10 years and 100K miles :)

My Vanagon has over 305K on the odo. Original engine as far as I know, but I've only had it about 4 or 5 years. I use it for work and for family trips etc. There's nothing else on the market like it, seats 7 or 2 + 1 ton of materials and tools (I'm a contractor and designer). It's old enough that you don't need special computers to fix it, and new enough that the body is relatively safe, despite no airbags. I do my own work on it which is good and bad. There are a few places that specialize in parts.

any idea how much you guys have spent over the lifetime of the car to maintain it those miles? i wonder if the costs adds up...

I've rarely spent more than $200 a year on even my expensive to maintain VW Golf. Brakes are about $150 an axle for pads and rotors. I use OEM parts and I've done them twice in 11 years. Oil changes are about $35 (I can't get big jugs of 5w-40 synthetic so I have to pay more for quarts) every 9 months or so. Other fluids are fairly cheap to replace, $6 for brake fluid, $20 for gear oil and those are only every other year. Coolant is a lifetime item on VWs.

Otherwise I spent $200 on parts and tools when I had to replace my water pump last year (hit the timing belt and accessory belt also). Plugs, wires and ignition coils were about $400 6 years ago. I spent $300 on a new cat a while ago and I did new front struts this year for about $250 ish in parts and tools.

I've had to replace various sensors over the years to the tune of 50-100 dollars (german cars...). And I've replaced the tires twice (and I bought snow tires on rims when I moved to colorado). Still, I'm well under $4000 in mx costs on this car for 11 years of use. I expect it to go another 6-9 years with similar costs.

The absolute cheapest, easiest car to maintian so far has been my 07 Honda Civic Hybrid. We've had some major repairs but they were all under warranty. Otherwise I've found that it's really easy to do all my own mx on the car. Basically oil changes, transmission fluid, filters and I finally have to do the brakes at 82,000. The brakes are hardly ever used with the regenerative braking.

any idea how much you guys have spent over the lifetime of the car to maintain it those miles? i wonder if the costs adds up...

My daily driver : paid $1,200 for it fifteen months ago at ~150k miles. Three oil changes at $25 each (we can buy the big jugs of oil, and filters aren't much). I don't know whether the oil changes should factor into your question, though, since new cars need oil changes, too.

Older car maintenance includes brake pads (maybe; I drive over two mountains every day, three if you count the one I live on, so anything might have needed pads). That was $29.99 plus tax. This weekend we put in new spark plugs, a legit older vehicle issue. Four plugs at $1.98 each comes to $7.92 plus tax. Also, last summer, I replaced the wiper blades for $8 each, and I've replaced one tail light bulb, $4 for a two-pack.

Total out of pocket for over 50k miles, including purchase price: $1,341 rounding up. Tax on the car is under $40 a year, by the way.

'92 Honda Prelude base model. Manual transmission, but it does have power windows and a sunroof :) Bought it a little less than a year ago with already 22x,xxx miles on it. The odometer is broken so I don't know exactly how many miles are on it. I do need to replace the brake master cylinder, just haven't done it yet.

My household's daily drivers are a 1998 VW Beetle TDI with ~210K (its been a while since I looked at the odometer; I don't quite remember) and a 1996 Ford Ranger 4x4 with 195K. Both have manual transmissions and 4-cylinder engines (the Ranger is the most efficient 4x4 truck I could find); the Ranger has manual windows and door locks.

We have a 1991 Honda civic wagon, with 252K miles, (bought at 161k in 2003), and a 2004 Prius with 225K miles (bought at 185K in 2010). Prius is the daily driver, we don't drive the Honda much, but license and insurance for the year are way less than the cost of renting a car for the times where it's come in really handy! Honda eats a little oil, I think it's a slight leak and not burning it.

In the comments of the blog's last post, MMM says he's driven under 70k miles in 20-something years of driving. If you were to keep your car's mileage at under 2,500 milles/year (not hard at all when you live locally and don't commute), you could theoretically buy a car with 80k for 7,000 dollars or so in your twenties and make it your first and only car. Now THAT would be badass.

My 1996 Volvo wagon is at 164k, only bought it last summer with 155k on the clock though. My dad's still driving his 1994 Buick LeSabre with 142k on it (he got it for free from his father-in-law about 11 years ago with 41k on it, doesn't get much better than that). My girlfriend used to have a '93 Volvo with 211k on it before she moved across the country. I'm sure it's still driving around Phoenix.

I see no reason why my Volvo won't last me well past 200k. It's a *very* well-built car, and it's been very well taken-care of in the past. I'm also babying it pretty hard. Textbook maintenance. If you treat a car like you'll have it forever, you probably will be able to.

The main problem with old cars (at least in northern Illinois) is rust. Get something built decently, and without rust (or minor rust that you fix right away), take care of it, and no reason it can't run forever. My Volvo had only two very small spots of rust when I got it, and I fixed them easily before winter came to make them bigger.

My 1996 Volvo wagon is at 164k, only bought it last summer with 155k on the clock though. My dad's still driving his 1994 Buick LeSabre with 142k on it (he got it for free from his father-in-law about 11 years ago with 41k on it, doesn't get much better than that). My girlfriend used to have a '93 Volvo with 211k on it before she moved across the country. I'm sure it's still driving around Phoenix.

I see no reason why my Volvo won't last me well past 200k. It's a *very* well-built car, and it's been very well taken-care of in the past. I'm also babying it pretty hard. Textbook maintenance. If you treat a car like you'll have it forever, you probably will be able to.

The main problem with old cars (at least in northern Illinois) is rust. Get something built decently, and without rust (or minor rust that you fix right away), take care of it, and no reason it can't run forever. My Volvo had only two very small spots of rust when I got it, and I fixed them easily before winter came to make them bigger.

I'm driving a '92 Volvo with 230k (plus the three years when the odo was broken) up here in Wisconsin. I've heard they do very well w/r/t rust, but it'll be a sad day nonetheless when it first appears.

If mine ever bites the dust, I think I'd "upgrade" to one of those mid-late nineties wagons.

any idea how much you guys have spent over the lifetime of the car to maintain it those miles? i wonder if the costs adds up...

Part of the reason I drive a Honda...It's reliable and replacement parts are dirt cheap. My biggest expense so far was replacing the engine. $250 for a used motor and I replaced it myself. I had a tie rod go bad, so bought a set of inner/outer tie rods for both sides for $35 on ebay and again, did the work myself. With everything being manual, there's not much to go bad electronically. Timing belts can be changed in the garage in about an hour and for less than $40. All told, I have less than $1800 into the car including the cost of purchasing the car itself, maintenance, and repairs. I'm getting ready to have to replace the tires, but I can put a Bridgestone on it for $38/tire.

I have a 2003 honda accord with only 80k miles. Replaced the front brake rotors once. Otherwise, no other issues over 11 years and should last at least another decade (likely more if my long-term plans of living close to work pans out).

Camry Hybrid after 200k+ kms on my wagon. Wagon was a faithful car but got sick of the repairs. Even my mechanic was giving me a strong hint after 2 timing belt changes. Enjoying the cruising range on hybrid. Next step would be a Holden/GM Volt or Tesla...but aiming for 200k+ for the hybrid too. Maybe they'll make a wagon version then. Probably the first and last Aussie-made hybrid :(

There is no such thing as a "lifetime" item -- or, thought of another way, manufacturers define "lifetime" as "100k miles."

Transmission fluid, for example, is also listed as "lifetime" on automatic transmission VWs... but the transmission will last longer if you change it anyway.

True, but I end up changing the majority of it with a water pump change. I have changed the gear oil twice and that's a lifetime item. I was getting some second gear grind so I switched over to pennzoil synchromesh (vw vortex recommendation), it's smooth as silk now.

Still, I wouldn't recommend this car to anyone. I only get 27mpg city (I don't do much highway) and there have been a fair amount of repairs in the last 11 years. I'd much rather drive a honda or a toyota and take the performance hit. But, this thing was cheap and I knew the history.

I have a 2002 Honda Crv with 145000 miles on it. It doesn't have that many miles yet and the fuel economy could be better. But I just paid the yearly fixed costs (license and insurance) at $300, so I'm happy. Aside from maintenance, which I do myself, it has only had $800 in repairs in its lifetime.

I'll probably have to ditch the Impreza in Aug as we're getting a new car (company paid) and I get the Forester. Too bad as I really love the impreza... cheap, hauls and very nice handling. Just a bit thirsty in the gas department.

Mine's a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix with 125k. It drives better on snow than our Hyundai and gets the same gas mileage. Its not winning an beauty contects and some things aren'tso much broken as they have tricks to them. But since I bought it for $2000 in 2010 and have only had to put in about $700 in work on the front wheels & axle I can't complain a bit. Extra bonus, in Montana my car is old enough for permanent tabs so I never have to pay for registration for it ever again.

Still, I wouldn't recommend this car to anyone. I only get 27mpg city (I don't do much highway) and there have been a fair amount of repairs in the last 11 years. I'd much rather drive a honda or a toyota and take the performance hit. But, this thing was cheap and I knew the history.

If you don't mind dealing with the maintenance, TDIs are the best VWs. My TDI is quicker than a stock GTI and gets 40+ MPG (combined city+highway).

Still, I wouldn't recommend this car to anyone. I only get 27mpg city (I don't do much highway) and there have been a fair amount of repairs in the last 11 years. I'd much rather drive a honda or a toyota and take the performance hit. But, this thing was cheap and I knew the history.

If you don't mind dealing with the maintenance, TDIs are the best VWs. My TDI is quicker than a stock GTI and gets 40+ MPG (combined city+highway).

Yeah, I'm just really tired of how much even cheap cars cost and I would be absolutely fine with a mid 90s civic hatchback that got around the same mpg as a TDI. Really, I'd love to just ride my bike everywhere, but there's a lot of places my kids and I go that we just can't ride to.

My 1996 Volvo wagon is at 164k, only bought it last summer with 155k on the clock though. My dad's still driving his 1994 Buick LeSabre with 142k on it (he got it for free from his father-in-law about 11 years ago with 41k on it, doesn't get much better than that). My girlfriend used to have a '93 Volvo with 211k on it before she moved across the country. I'm sure it's still driving around Phoenix.

I see no reason why my Volvo won't last me well past 200k. It's a *very* well-built car, and it's been very well taken-care of in the past. I'm also babying it pretty hard. Textbook maintenance. If you treat a car like you'll have it forever, you probably will be able to.

The main problem with old cars (at least in northern Illinois) is rust. Get something built decently, and without rust (or minor rust that you fix right away), take care of it, and no reason it can't run forever. My Volvo had only two very small spots of rust when I got it, and I fixed them easily before winter came to make them bigger.

I'm driving a '92 Volvo with 230k (plus the three years when the odo was broken) up here in Wisconsin. I've heard they do very well w/r/t rust, but it'll be a sad day nonetheless when it first appears.

If mine ever bites the dust, I think I'd "upgrade" to one of those mid-late nineties wagons.

Nice. I do love the older RWD Volvos. They're even more tank-like than mine.

I have a low mileage brag. Bought a car over 10 years ago while in high school, and I only hit 100K miles last year. Helped that I walked to college for 4 years. I hope to be driving it for another 10 years and 100K miles :)

2001 Honda Insight w/ just under 320K miles on it. Manual, and has averaged 59 MPG for me. Bought it for $4400 3 years ago with 225K on it. Doing the math, the ROI on this car compared to a Civic or similar for the same price, and I've come out VERY well.

We don't drive much and so had old cars with low miles, but still too much chit went wrong one year. DH drove his small Nisson truck 20 years but it just barely tapped out over 100,000 miles. We could never play the "high miles 'stache game" but we could play the "many years old" game.

Then in 2009 both of our autos went kaput and we temporarily acted like consumers rather than Mustachians and we bought two new vehicles in the same year. For cash, of course. But honestly, we are old and we didn't want the hassle of running around town looking for a good used vehicle. I prefer "used" but this time just did not want the hassle.

We bought them from our friend who is a car dealer who really IS a "friend" with whom we go out to dinner, he and his wife have us over to their house, we spend Xmas Eve with them and etc. We didn't shop around for the cheapest thing. He earned a commission and that's fine. He has been in the car business for 40 years because he gives great service to old farts like us who value "no hassle" sales. For instance, he drove across the river (he's in another state) 2X to meet me at work to sign paperwork for one of these cars. He will come and get a car for service or detailing (but we never do that.)

However we did act like Mustachians and bought low end, stripped down vehicles. I fully expect that this is DH's last truck, he will die with it. We'll have 1 or 2 more family cars, though because we trash then rather fast--dogs, and garden dirt and etc. do no keep them nice.

My car is a '99 Ford Escort that has 117k miles. My family bought this car as a third one for our family in 2004. It's really beaten up after being driven by my brother and I in our teens and also from a hit and run incident while parked. My parents gave it to me when I graduated college. It gets about 30-33mpg and the insurance is $36/mo. I drive it 1-2x per week in the winter and much less in the summer. It has issues that aren't worthwhile to fix but it's still going for the time being!

Windawake, our cars should high five. 96 ford escort, just hit 180k. Actually looking to sell it though, since I drive it just a few times a month now. Would rather have a grand in the bank and use a new car from a car share for my highly infrequent 170 mile driving trips.

Windawake, our cars should high five. 96 ford escort, just hit 180k. Actually looking to sell it though, since I drive it just a few times a month now. Would rather have a grand in the bank and use a new car from a car share for my highly infrequent 170 mile driving trips.

Car high-five! I've considered selling mine and car sharing but figured it would be just about as expensive (I spend about $750/year on car stuff) and much less convenient. I use the car to visit family in the suburbs so it's totally worthwhile. Plus my car is such a POS I can't imagine anyone actually paying me money for it!

We had 2 ford escorts that lasted until almost 200k. In 2003 I bought a 1999 Volvo thinking I could drive it until 400k but that did not happen. Just got rid of it at 178K because I fixed it in Nov for 1,000 & in Jan it needed $4000 more work. Figured that was crazy as the last few years I spent about 2k each year. This time got a 2010 HOnda Accord-spent alot of time reading about reliability, low repairs, etc. Hope it is true!

Windawake, our cars should high five. 96 ford escort, just hit 180k. Actually looking to sell it though, since I drive it just a few times a month now. Would rather have a grand in the bank and use a new car from a car share for my highly infrequent 170 mile driving trips.

Car high-five! I've considered selling mine and car sharing but figured it would be just about as expensive (I spend about $750/year on car stuff) and much less convenient. I use the car to visit family in the suburbs so it's totally worthwhile. Plus my car is such a POS I can't imagine anyone actually paying me money for it!

There's always a college student out there. I'm going to try to sell it for KBB, and not be terribly disappointed if it doesn't go, and simply drop the insurance on it until it does go or I find a replacement and am actually motivated for it to be out of my garage. If my family was closer and I saw them more often I'd probably reconsider.

My '97 Odyssey is older than my kid who can drive it. I bought it in 2006 when it had 147,000 miles, and now it's pushing 240,000 and going strong (knock on wood!) Lots of road trips in that car - it's been all over the US twice!

We're selling my husband's Saturn this year, to replace it with a hybrid - it's an '01 with almost 190,000 and also going strong, but he has to commute (no face punch required - it is truly unavoidable in our case due to custody arrangements) and we need to get something that gets better gas mileage. I've been stalking craigslist for months, waiting for the perfect deal.

Gee, y'all put me to shame. I drive a '95 Corolla with 190k miles, and we have a 2001 Odyssey with 150k. Of course, we've only had the Corolla for 11 years (bought it at 87k miles) and the Odyssey for 8 (bought it at 70k miles), so we've a long way to go.

99' corolla i picked up for $2000 2 years ago with only 38,000 miles on it now! A friends grandmother who only took it to the grocery store, but no longer drives and it sat for 2 years. Only needed a battery and a headliner. This is the first vehicle i ever owned with less the 150K miles on clock when i bought it. Was a lucky find

Mine is a 1996 Subaru Outback with the 2.2L 5-speed and almost 221,000 miles on the odometer. I bought it for $3000 and insurance payouts for a couple of minor fender benders have made up for about 2/3 of that. The reputation of the EJ22 engine is such that I'm hoping to get 250,000 miles or more out of the car. :^)

The gas mileage is nothing to write home about (around 20 MPG in the winter, and up to 25 MPG in the summer), so I mostly use it for winter, biking as much as possible in the spring/summer/fall. Since I've been wussing out of winter riding for much of this season, I'm seeing what I can accomplish with the tips in the Hypermiling blog post.